How to Breed Mealworms

There are many reasons people breed mealworms, which are the larvae of the darkling beetle. They are an excellent food source for pet reptiles, small mammals, amphibians, fish and birds. Mealworms are simple to breed but you do need to give them the proper care. Raising them yourself saves money, as it is expensive to purchase mealworms from pet stores or feed suppliers. Read on to learn how to breed mealworms.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Two shallow plastic sweater boxes with lids or mealworm breeding boxes available at pet stores
• Window screen material
• Razor knife
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors
• Substrate made of wheat, oats, bran, whole wheat flour corn meal or chicken mash
• Mealworms
• Potatoes
• Variety of fruits, vegetables and bread

Preparing the Containers

1. Cut out most of the top section of the lids from both shallow sweater boxes.
2. Trim the window screen to slightly larger than the cut out areas of the lids.
3. Glue the screening snugly over the openings you cut into the lids making sure the screening fits securely. This provides ventilation for the mealworm colony and protection from ants and other insects. It also keeps the mealworms inside their container.
4. Place one container in a warm, dry area with subdued light.
5. Use the second container to house your mealworm colony while you clean the culture box container that you're using for mealworm breeding.
6. Add 1 to 2 inches of the substrate material into the box as a bedding and food source for the mealworms. Wheat, oats, bran, whole wheat flour, corn meal or chicken mash all make excellent substrate materials. Mix the substrate materials together, or use them individually.

Caring for the Mealworms

7. Put your mealworms into the substrate material. If possible, purchase a full culture of mealworms from a pet store or online at websites such asSialis, Worm Man or Nature Pavillion. See link in Resources. A full culture includes mealworms all four stages: egg, larvae, pupa and beetle. You can start with either mealworms or beetles if a full culture is not available.
8. Cut a potato into thin slices and place them into the substrate as a source of food. Alternatively, use a wedge of cabbage in place of the potato.
9. Sift out the beetles every one to two weeks, separating them from the eggs and tiny worms utilizing the second container that you prepared.
10. Dispose of the waste material in a garden once a month. Wash and dry the container, fill it with new substrate and sliced vegetables, and return the worms to the freshened container.
11. Keep your adult beetles at a humidity level of about 90 percent.
12. Feed the adult beetles small pieces of fruit, vegetables and bread. The breeding cycle keeps repeating itself as you repeat the steps.

Tips & Warnings

• Never allow mold to grow on the mealworms food source or substrate material.
• Keep the temperature between 45 to 85 degrees F for your mealworm colony. Most breeders find that a temperature of approximately 77 to 80 degrees F works best for them with a humidity level of about 70 percent.
• It takes about 12 weeks for a full cycle of reproduction to take place in a mealworm colony.
• Place the container full of mealworms in the refrigerator if they are breeding too quickly. It stops their cycle of development until you return the container to room temperature.
• Each female beetle lays about 500 eggs.
• Don't change the substrate in the container too soon. Allow the mealworm colony to establish itself or you risk accidentally discarding tiny eggs and larvae that you're cultivating.